Small Men Can Cast Large Shadows
It has been weeks going through thick forests and swamps, living off the land and hunting for meals becomes a tedious task. The sun starts to fall, casting a large, pitch black shadows with sun peeping through some opening within the forest. At the end of the forest you can see a young boy walking out, leaning onto a tree and out of breath. He lifts his head and see a village - the village he has been looking for the past 2… maybe 3 weeks. Its been too long in the forest to even remember. Hito has come a long way to get here and learn, prosper, gain his goal. Hito mustered up the strength and started to run towards the village. If I continue I can make it by time the sun fully sets. Time was against the young man, not wanting to spend another night in the wolf infested forests and who knows what else resides in them. Continuing, going against everything his body is trying to tell him, 'stop' it says but Hito is determined even if it means his body giving out. So close, I can't stop now. Hito constantly thinks to himself, trying to keep upright and not falling over. As the sun was showing the last of its light, Hito makes it to the front gates, leaves flying around him. All of a sudden he feels heavy, tired, and without notice he starts to fall to his knees. Trying to get back up his body had gave up on him and Hito finally falls over. The trees are around Hito at the entrance of the village are making a song with the wind, making him slowly lose conscious from being exhausted to a point that most don't even come close to. At least I made it. Hito says right before his eyes close and its complete darkness for him. "Sir, that was amazing," a voiced boomed layered with a tone of excitement. Another followed, "Yeah! I have no clue how you ever got beat in ANYTHING!" What followed? A light chuckle from the very being that they were addressing. The man that they acknowledged as their superior despite his departure from the village for nearly two decades responded with a chuckle. Why? He had heard it all before; they were just two out of hundreds that were watched in awe at his talents. He glanced at the two with a rather small smile compared to the visage-covering grins that his fellow shinobi wore. "Well," the blonde haired man started, "It was nothing. Really, it wasn't." "Bullshit!" "Yeah, bullshit! That was amazing," the other shinobi filled in. Voices wore thin in the background as Sannoto mentally broke away from the conversation. He sensed a fading chakra signature. Not dead, but very faint as if someone was unconscious. Within a second's though, the Senju broke towards the gate without alerting his teammates of the situation. "Hey, wait!" were the only words capable of escaping the mouth of the shinobi before Sannoto had disappeared from his line of vision. Meanwhile, he charged through the trees leaving a trail of fallen leaves in his path before finally coming upon the gates of Konoha where a single boy lay. He approached his unconscious com padre. "He's just unconscious," Sannoto deduced before picking up the child. Within fifteen minutes, Sannoto charged through his front door. His house rested towards the hokage's mansion. In this era, Konohagakure was split even moreso than before. Larger houses and wealthier citizens were situated towards the residence of their leader, thus Sannoto and his family stood within one hundred feet of the mansion. He was royalty: his great-great grandfather was the first hokage, his great-great uncle was the second, his adoptive father was the third, and his mother was the fifth. His family had been wealthy for generations even before the founding of Konohagakure. The Senju were always amongst the wealthiest clans due to frequent hire from the richest of Daimyō's and considering that his family were always the chiefs of the tribe, money was plentiful. He had inherited a lot, but even still his own funds were exceptional. His family and himself always held a life of luxury, even now. "Honey...Is dinner ready?" he called out, placing the unconscious child on a couch near the kitchen. The sweet scent of food filled the air. The sound of metal pots clinging and clanging together played throughout the house. Within the kitchen was a woman moving quickly throughout the large territory of the room. She wore a white robe with the emblem of the Uchiha on it. Her sapphire hair was placed into a ponytail, so that she could see her food effectively. As Sannoto placed the child on the couch, she was able to sense his unusual dukkha of the child. Walking into the living room area, she removed her mittens and began to slowly approach Sannoto. "I literally just finished. I'm waiting for Sigma to get back here." She got closer to Sannoto and kissed him on the cheek. "Who's this?" The smell of delicious food had reached Hito making him start come to. With a faint smile on his face he asks “What smells good?” He slowly sits up and hunches over on the couch rubbing his eyes. He looks at the two and starts to realize he’s in unknown territory. “Where am I?” "Oh, hey there," the Blonde haired man responds, looking back at Hito with a grin. "You're in my home!". He exchanges eyes with his dumbfounded wife. "Well, I mean our house," he corrects. "Anyway, you're in Konoha. I found at the gates passed out or something. What's your name, kid?" “Oh - um, my name is Hito” He responded with his hand out in front of him. “And your name?” Ayame walked over to the boy, she placed her hand against his. "I'm Ayame Uchiha, and he's Sannoto Senju. There's also another one of us, but he isn't exactly here." Ayame began to make her way into the kitchen, and she called out to the two in the living room. "I'll prepare plates, you guys hang tight." "That's my wife!" Sannoto couldn't help but exclaim, gesturing for the two to take a seat on the couch. "Did I mention I found you passed out by the gates?" Hito gave a small grin at the blond man. “Yeah, I guess when you continuously run for a couple of weeks your body kinda gives out.” He looks the man into the eyes. “Thank you by the way. I’m not sure if a lot of people would of let me into their household.” He says while putting attention to his tattered clothing which got ruined during his trip. "Ah, don't worry about it at all! I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't help every passed out kid that I saw lying face first, sweat covered, and bruise infested. But, I guess that's just me." It was obvious sarcasm, but the joking kind of sarcasm. Like, the sarcasm that suggested friendliness and the sarcasm that told really said "don't worry about it at all, it was no problem". But, I guess he had said that already huh? So, the sarcasm wasn't actually needed. Sannoto was that kind of guy: ill placed jokes, awkwardness, the very non charismatic type of guy when it comes to normal situations. He's a pervert by nature, socially awkward by definition. Regardless, he was a kind gentlemen, the man of the most noble disposition who would lend a hand to anyone who needed it. That is who Sannoto was. A small and gentle laugh came from Hito. “ Well that’s nice to hear that there are still good people.” He then got up, grabbing the arm of the couch as support and made a weird grunting noise. “Seems like I may have pulled a muscle in my leg.” He quickly looks around and came to a conclusion that this blond haired man could possibly help him. “This may be a little much, seeing how you’ve accepted me into you house and everything.” He says quickly to not make a fool out of himself and he was also a bit worried. What would this man think of him? is what really crossed Hito’s mind. “I came here to find someone who is willing to teach me. Not just anyone but someone who possess power. Do you know anyone who would be willing to take me as their student? I’ll even be willing to somehow prove it, take trials, anything.” At this point Hito was a little bit desperate and it showed in his voice. He wanted to learn how to protect his village and the more time he wastes, the more they are hurt. The people who have looked after him his entire life was all that mattered to him. He wanted to bring his village protection and he wasn’t sure if he could achieve that. He paced across the room with a rather surprising grin. "So, you wish to be educated in the ways of the ninja do you young farmer's hen?" Sannoto inquired? "Well then, if you wish to do so then I sha'll educate you in the ways, but rest assured the journey will not be easy. We will make you swifter than a coursing river, stronger than a great typhoon. You will become the best shinobi of them all. Do you know why? Because, I will train you myself. Yes, I, the son of Princess Tsunade, the perverted metal seeker of peace...the one and only Sannoto Senju!" To be honest, Hito was absolutely dumbfounded. He took another look at Sannoto’s clothing which made him look like some wealthy, arrogant prick. Hito didn’t mean to disrespect him but the way he looks makes it seem like he wouldn’t even know how to throw a shuriken properly. “Are you sure you could teach me?” Realizing what he said could of been offensive he quickly added another remark. “Its just I’m a bit hard to train and you may not be wanting to deal with me.” Hito was of course a courteous young man but it doesn’t mean he has some stereotypes. Those back in his farm town who had higher wealth than others were stuck up and never even consider talking to others. Though he probably didn’t have room to talk seeing as he was in tattered up clothing which made him look like he was a homeless drunk. Maybe his perspective on social standings is to change, maybe he will be open minded or possibly become a wealthy, arrogant prick himself. "Hm? Well, let's go find out sha'll we? Tomorrow morning, we'll have a sparring match. Right now, you're all beat up and stuff so I don't want you to blame your loss on your condition," Sannoto sat down on his couch. "But, if you want.." he placed his elbow firmly on a table in front of him with his his hand extended upwards. "Let me show you some of my strength. Let's have an arm wrestling contest. You can use both hands, whatever you want. Ninjutsu, etc.." Hito raised an eyebrow. “Um - I guess we can do this.” He grabs a chair and sets it on the opposite side. He lands his elbow onto the table and locks hands. “Alright, three, two, one.” As he said the one he started to push downwards against Sannoto. Almost immediately, Sannoto's massive hands slams into the tables, smashing directly through the wood and striking the floor. "Oh, wow. You're stronger than I imagined! Hehe. Well done, I guess tomorrow will be a fun time. Don't ya think?" As Sannoto brought Hito down he couldn’t help but say “Oh hell n…” which was abruptly interrupted when he was practically slammed into the ground. He kinda laid there not saying a word, being dazed from the hard slam. After a minute he started to cough, the hit just caught up to him. “Damn - old man got some strength.” He rolled over to his feet where he stayed bent over continuing to cough. Trying to catch his breath completely he looks at Sannoto with an eye closed and the other squinted. “Yeah, I’d like you to teach me if you would be willing to?” The way he said it was quite funny because he was laughing at himself for judging people the way people had judged him. He straighten up and opened both eyes, holding his hand out in a friendly matter he asked the kind man “Will this be a start of an apprenticeship?” There was a bit of silence, when suddenly the front doors to the Senju family came flying open. Directly through them, came a blur. Whoever it was ran through the house quickly, speed so great that those of regular eyes wouldn't be able to keep up with - only to see a blur. The moving blur jumped directly across the table couch, landing in front of the young boy and Sannoto, there it stood. After perfectly examining the figure, it was quite obvious who it was. Over six feet tall, long black hair reaching to about his lower back, stroked with red streaks. Crimson battle armor on, and across his back was a gunbai. From upstairs a voice yelled out, "Sigma's home!" That's right it was none other than Sigma Uchiha. Youngest son of Sannoto Senju. "Hm.." He states, "Iz knew I sensed a new dukkha. You've got quite the suffering." "Oh, hey Sigma! Nice to see you're home. You mind helping this kid clean up the scraps of the table. I got to help your mom with something really quick," The Senju explained, taking his leave from the two. "Dinner will be ready soon, so try to hurry it up" His voice trailed off in the distance. “Sure.” Hito responded. He bent over and started to pick up big chunks from the table. As he was doing so he looked at Sigma over his shoulder, trying not to get noticed. “''Why such long hair? Could mistake him for a chick.” Though of course he didn’t say that outloud because if he was as strong as Sannoto than Hito would of been in for a time of hell tomorrow. Sigma first gave the boy a full examination. He had been in the village for a few months now, but he had never seen this face before. He knew his eyes wouldn't deceive him, but incase they did, he relied on his ability to sense dukkha. Yet, even with that ability, there was nothing. "Telling me to clean up? What is the world coming to?" Sigma mumbled under his breath in hopes his father didn't hear him. "How do I get rid of this..." Sigma held his fighter high into the air. First he placed his hand on the ground, and then appeared the seal to a formula. Pushing the scraps of the table onto the seal, everything disappeared. His hands became filled with an aura, and suddenly he created a brand new table. ''"I have no idea where that stuff went..." He thought before turning to the boy. "Eh, who are you again?" Looking at the seal and having it all disappear actually amazed Hito a little. “Huh.” He said in response to the Fuinjutsu. Shifting his head to point towards Sigma’s he answers back, “My name is Hito. And you are? And how do you know Sannoto?” First Session The sun rises slowly above the horizon, bathing the village in a brisk sunlight that barely illuminated the world. For many, the sunlight peeking into their house through the cracked window would wake them up, but for Sannoto and his Hito this would be the start of something rather new; his first training session. Although, Hito would believe that it was his chance to challenge the man to test whether or not he was worthy to be his mentor. In the training field, the two stood as their shadows stood tall in the gentle light. “So,” his voice projected across the plains like an echo in a cave. “We can start this thing now. I won’t hold back, just so you know” Hito had started laughing. “You may have muscle but you’re an old bag!” He said it in a friendly way. Hito had felt that in the short time he has known Sannoto that he created a bond that made Hito comfortable talking to this blond haired, giant buffoon. Hito jumps into a fighting stance and creates the Tiger Hand seal. From his feet generated a puff of smoke covering his entire body and he quickly moved behind Sannoto with a kunai in his hand. Due to Hito’s inexperience he wasn’t able to use the technique fully and had left behind a slight image tracing his movement. He jumps forward and extends both his arms with his hands tightly wrapped around the hilt of the Kunai, aiming for the heart from the back. The point of the kunai, his body lunging, his hair flapping in the wind, the smile that says “I got this guy”: Sannoto could feel it all through the magical energies of the world. Everything left an imprint in this world and his ability to feel and see that imprint is what made his perception better than any other. With a simple step to the side and a boom of laughter, Sannoto quickly stepped to the side so that the child’s momentum would carry him past his body while avoiding the rather linear assault. Swinging his massive arm, the Senju thrusted the side of his palm towards Hito’s neck. The hand had made a direct hit with Hito’s neck, pounding him into the ground. His body hit the ground with a deep thud with his body bouncing back up a slight bit just to fall back down. The fall, or slam to put it, had made a small cloud of dust which Hito took to his advantage. He snuck away to Sannoto’s side and done a low kick to the large shins Sannoto had. "Your movements are as slow as your intellect," the Senju enthusiastically insulted. With a slight bend, he ricocheted off of the ground and into the air just enough to escape the foot. "The energies of the universe tells me where you are kid; don't think I'm some old guy you can just crush," Simultaneous with his speech the man landed onto the ground past the child's kick. As the boy swept past him, Sannoto smiled and thrusted his clenched hand towards his body. Chakra wisped around his hand slightly.."as he uttered the incarnations. Hito had thought ahead and knew Sannoto would try to strike him while he was on the ground. He held a Tiger hand seal to prepare for another swift movement. His body had seemingly transported away from the chakra covered fist. As he was traveling at high speeds he threw a Kunai right into Sannoto leg as he was about a foot away during his travel. He got up from the ground and was about 20 feet from his trainer. "Maybe you have the wrong idea of my intellect?" Hito was teasing Sannoto because of his comment. Upon contact with his fist, the earth leaped upwards to escape his wrath. Where the grassy plains once rested now stood a collage of rocks, stones and suspended dust. The kunai surged through the air with immeasurable precision and strength; the kinetic energy itself became visible as it ripped through the air. It weaved between rock and rock almost like a homing device towards Sannoto's massive leg, but was unfortunately stopped. The energies within the Senju leaped from the tenketsu to the outside world and encapsulated his leg in an armor of steel. The Kunai simply broke into hundreds of pieces upon contact; it didn't stand a chance. With a simple handclap, the chakra tore through his body and left every tenketsu simultaneously to encapsulate his entire being in the same steel. Rather than a man, the Senju had become a metal monstrosity. He stomped through the cloud of debris revealing himself to the young child for just a moment. "Are you ready, child?" this monster exclaimed. Without a second's though, his chakra wisped into the air and he had disappeared almost as quickly as it happened. Behind Hito, his raised fist slammed into the ground, creating a similar fracture to the earth that he had created before. Just the force alone by Sannoto's now metal fist slamming into the ground was enough to push Hito forward. He had tripped from the force and rolled along the ground but used that momentum to quickly get up and rotate towards Sannoto. "Shit man! I thought this was training, not some death match." He said this kinda with an angered voice. "This guy's much better than the bandits back at my village." He thought to himself. At this moment Hito had to think of something to do since him movements are obviously not quick enough and his tactics seemed to barbaric for Sannoto. Hito kinda froze, not knowing what to do. "Shit man, think! Come on!" ''Was the only thing running through Hito's inexperienced mind. Twitching hands, frozen eyes and shaking boots were among the many things that alerted the Senju of Hito's mental confusion. The armor retreated revealing his massive flesh as he tumbled over onto his back. Laughter erupted from his lips. "Oh my kami! You're so scared kid, that face is priceless" escaped his mouth over but not in those exact words. Something like, "Face! Priceless! Scared!" all in that order. Either way, the Senju was mocking the small child nevertheless. A kunai was tilted upwards to Sannoto's back, ready to strike so far into his flesh it would pierce right through his heart. The Hito that he was facing was a clone but due to Hito training with the generic and simple technique he was able to create one that seemed real and even had a shadow. When Hito crashed into the ground and a puff of dust came up he threw the Kunai and created a clone to distract his trainer. "I was waiting for you to leave that armour of yours so I can get a head start on you. I watched everything so I could create just an illusion on the environment just to make it realistic." Hito was actually somewhat gasping for air. The illusions were not that realistic but where just enough to convince someone in the heat of battle. Though due to his lack of training he couldn't actually make them with ease and the simple Genjutsu's had actually eat at his chakra reserves. "Damn..." He wasn't able to complete the sentence due to being light headed. Sannoto let out a simple sigh. "I tried to let you out of this one kid," the Senju muttered. Rather than turn his body to address the child, for his ability to sense his chakra had already provided his position, he simply threw his left foot backwards towards the child with a force similar to that of his punches onto the earth. Around his leg, an aura of mystical energy sat masked from the view of those unable to utilize it; enhancing the range of his attack in all directions proportion to it's length and width. The kinetic force of the kick was so great that Hito's body had not only flew about 5 feet away but had ripped through the earth the entire way. Leading up to Hito was torn up earth with jagged rocks propelling from the sides upwards. Hito had let out an agonizing pain which even scared the crows away. "FUCK!" Was the only word he could get out as he lightly touched his chest. As he was in this new pain never felt by him before, his clone had dispersed due to lack of concentration. When closely examined, multiple ribs of Hito's were cracked and split wide open. One even protruded through his skin and was covered with a dark blood that was nearly black. "He---lp" The only thing that Hito was able to get out before he passed out due to the pain. With a flicker, the Senju sat over the dying child; his eyes wide, his hands trembling, and a rather melancholy frown stained upon his visage. “Shit, kid. I didn’t realize you were this weak.” He spoke very quickly as he placed his hands on Hito’s protruding ribs. The magical energies delicately leaked from his fingertips and like a sponge the ribs absorbed the nutrients. With every particle they absorbed, the ribs seemed to grow duller and duller, greyer and greyer, but more or less they seemed to grow stronger and brittle. Within moments, the ribs were no longer fractured pieces of calcium but fortified, shiny metal. Concentrating his energy into the tip of his index finger, the child’s new ribs vibrated in resonation. Taking hold of this resonation, he allowed his finger to recede and the ribs followed their leader. A clench was all that was needed to seal the wound. Threads protruded from the surface of his ribs and clenched the two ends of his flesh and slammed the split shut. “Man,” A sigh followed the initial phrase, “That was close,” finished the statement. With a rather brutal style of gentle, the Senju chucked the unconscious mate over his shoulder and as the sun rose above the horizon they had retreated from the training field. Only five minutes.. By the slight bumping of up and down was Hito awaken by. His vision was still blurry, his senses were dulled. Flashbacks had rushed through his mind in snippets of pictures, ribs broken, sharp pains, a rib or two ripped through the skin. It took a moment for Hito to even realize what had happened but when he did he kicked off of Sannoto due to pure shock. He wasn't thinking straight at the time, seeing as he nearly came to meet death right in the face. At first Hito was scared to death... literally. But soon his fear turned into anger which shifted into rage right after. He pushed himself off the ground and quickly looked at Sannoto with piercing eyes. "What the hell man!? You could of killed me!" At this point Hito was beyond rage. He turned around and with the tree right in front of him, Hito let out all of his rage and started to massively started to punch it. His indignation was no longer towards Sannoto but was switched to Hito, to his abilities. The thought that his abilities couldn't even match close to Sannoto struck him right in the heart. He couldn't stand the fact that his abilities were even possibly not enough to defend his village. He wanted to only protect those who raised him when his own parents abandoned him. If he couldn't survive a simple kick to the chest without nearly dying than what says he could defend his village. Tears were flowing down his face, just fulling his anger more as he showed being weak. He finally started to come to a closing with his pounding he had let out one more full powered swing and had cut directly through the tree. Falling to his knees from exhaustion, he couldn't help but weep at his own pity. With his adrenalin running at an extremely fast pace he felt a beat within his hands that made the bruising and cuts from the tree hurt more intensely with a burning sensation. Hito was astonished that his hands had started to close the scratches and the swelling started to go down right before his own eyes. Within mere seconds the damaged done to his hands were gone, showing no sign that they were there before such as scaring or what not. "What the hell?" He manage to say with gasps of air between each word. “When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change,” the monotone voice gentle roared from behind the teenager. Several strides followed those words as they traveled through the empty air. His shadow blocked out the sun as he hovered above the child; “The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace. You seem to have some understanding of this. The world of the shinobi must change from assassins to guardians. Then, and only then, will we take that step to a conflict-free world,” the Senju preached. The tips of his index and middle finger rested on the surface of the teenager’s forehead. Within moments, Hito’s body was encapsulated in an aura of green chakra; his wounds began to heal quickly, his muscles began to strengthen under its influence. “I’ll grant you some of my power,” Behind his weeping he had laughed at what Sannoto said. "Well, this world has a long way to go." He whipped his tears away against his sleeve jacket and brought himself up to his feet, turning towards Sannoto. Looking up, opening his eyes fully now showed a new pair of eyes. Still the same but something different, courage, faith, but what stood out was tiny bits of red flares showing his true nature. Pure at heart Hito had raised a grin from his face. "Well then - shall we continue back?" Hito started to head back to Sannoto's place. "Tomorrow will be a new day Sensei." Sniffling he let out a small giggle. "''I got to get my head together tonight, can't break down like that again." ''His grin had gone neutral and tilted his head down while he just continued to walk to the house. The Final Session It was exactly like that first day: The sun rose barely above the horizon, illuminating the plentiful trees encapsulating the field. The lake sparkled as the light beams refracted off its surface granting an array of colors arranged perfectly over the plains. The kunai drenched stumps lay in the middle of the field and the wind itself was still as the small breeze blew the leaves about the field. The only thing worthy of noticeable change was the physique of the child that stood before Sannoto. He stood a foot taller than he did before he got here, his muscles bulged from the cloak he bore, and his chakra leaked from the tenketsu. Fifty or so spectators surrounded the plains behind the protective gate placing their bets and enjoying their refreshing beverages; some even brought their breakfast with them. “Heh, I didn’t expect all of these people to come watch us have our final session, Hito. It seems you’ve made a name for yourself in these past couple of months,” the Senju spoke with a rather warm tone. One out of a thousand compliments that he has given the child during the duration of his training. To the left, a large gathering of women jovially chanted “HITO!! YOU CAN DO IT,” with an amplitude to enormous that ignoring It was impossible for even the most deaf of people. Sannoto simply responded with a rather wide smile. “It seems you have some fans! Mind introducing me to some of them, eh?” Looking all around him, seeing the iron gate fences high up. Hito could feel the tension radiating from those beyond the gates. He stood there for a moment and took a deep inhale to relax his nerves. He had also taken in the excitement of all the people, wanting him to win and others wanting Sannoto to win. He took a swift spin to face his sensei, dust flying with his due to his shear speed. As he spun around memories of this field had rushed through his mind. All the hardships, all the lessons, all the sweat, tears…. blood, and memories were building up to this exact point in time. He remembers each event of pain like it was recently, he remembers each event of his bonding with Sannoto, he remembers every footstep that took on this field. Looking right at his sensei’s old blue eyes. Fists clenching, muscles bulging, the sudden silence that fell upon the crowd waiting for the first move. “I don’t know about that, have to build up my numbers.” Smiling at his own comment he slowly slides his feet against the ground and brings his arms up to his fighting stance. “Well Sannoto...” His voice roared, causing the birds from the surrounding trees to flee. “I suppose this is our last session. Let us make it count?” As those final words came out of his mouth he had seemingly teleported behind Sannoto. With his fist to his side he starts to rotate his body while extending his arm to punch the mid section of Sannoto’s back with as much power Hito could give it. A wave of chakra flushed across the Senju's back, "From the back huh?" escaped his lips as he disappeared from the scene almost as quickly as he appeared. In a flash, he too had appeared behind Hito with a fist charged in a similar fashion directed towards his rather exposed back. “What’s with you and necks?” Hito said as he twisted his body with such speed. As he turned to face Sannoto he wrapped his right leg around Sannoto’s arm and with the motion that was still in his body he took his left knee and rammed it into Sannoto’s upper arm. The knee had enough force to easily and quickly lift Sannoto off his feet, flipping him to a point where he would slam his head into the ground with enough force to at least crack the skull of a normal being. As Sannoto’s head would slam into the ground Hito released Sannoto’s arm and kicked back to gain some room. As he weaved through the atmosphere, Sannoto's flesh tingled with excitement. He ''allowed Hito's attack to strike him; he wrapped his right leg around Sannoto's arm, kneed him, hit him in the air. However, upon traveling in the air streams of metallic chakra shot from Sannoto. Naturally, Hito would be capable of dodging them just perfectly, but Sannoto's thoughts were among the fact that since he had leaped back the mobility he had was.....not so great. While Hito was gaining distance he saw that his leg started to turn to a metallic color. He could feel the chakra changing every cell within his leg being altered to the composition of metal. Luckily though Hito had achieved more control over his chakra so he was able to redirect Sannoto's chakra towards his own ribs. Since Sannoto's chakra had changed Hito's ribcage to pure metal it could act like a receiver and that was what it exactly did. Sannoto's chakra was completely absorbed into Hito's rib's with no side effect to any other part of his body. "You got to think smarter than that." "Did you really just saturate my chakra in your ribs? My metal release chakra in your metal ribs?" Sannoto simply let out a sigh, as he flicked his hand. Responding to his chakra, Hito's ribs shot outwards from his gut, tearing through his raw flesh. The Senju shook his head, "Hito, you've got to be smarter than that..." The ribs were forcibly shot from Hito’s chest, ripping through his flesh and muscle. Within a blink of the eye however, Hito was suddenly changed to a medium sized log which was destroyed into multiple little pieces. As the fake was being destroyed, the real Hito had sprung up behind Sannoto while utilizing the Body Flicker to increase his speed immensely. Hito had raised his knee to make full contact with Sannoto’s back, having enough force to easily knock the wind out of most men. Though Hito knew this wouldn’t be enough so he followed up with throwing two kunai’s and aiming for the legs to immobilize, or at least slow down, Sannoto. The child's knee struck Sannoto's back, forcing him forward onto his knee. He grunted in pain, but following were two kunai that dug deep into his flesh immediately following his collapse. Most people would have panicked, but Sannoto simply smiled as he ripped the two metals from his massive legs. He turned to face Hito, standing as the very slits that the child managed to form closed up just as quickly; regeneration was some of Sannoto's strongest abilities. "You've gotten somewhat stronger than last time, but..." with that, a wisp of chakra encapsulated Sannoto's body and he disappeared from sight as he uttered the incarnations: "Idaten". Within moments, he was to Hito's left side, sweeping a kick below towards his feet as an aura of energy doubled its range in all directions. Hito’s legs had flown up from underneath him. He went along with the motion and landed on the ground on his hands and with his strength and he had propelled him away from Sannoto is a fluent movement. As he was in mid air he signed the Ram hand seal to prepare another Body Flicker at a moments notice. Keeping his eyes on Sannoto he never lost trace of him and threw a kunai aimed for Sannoto’s heart as he was landing. Hito's aim was indeed impeccable as it surged throughout the air, encapsulated in a purple aura of kinetic energy generated from the sheer force of the projectile. A armor of steel materialized into existence upon his flesh. The kunai struck his metal flesh, breaking into pieces upon contact. As a fragment shot off from his steel chest, Sannoto caught the shard and with a similar marksmanship, Sannoto targeted Hito's own heart as he was landing. With Hito’s training he was able to trace the small fragment in what seemed to be frames of real time. As soon as his toes touched the ground they had instantaneously moved to behind the fragment where he was able to grip it with his thumb and finger and started to run right for Sannoto and with the speed and his raw strength he threw the fragment directly between Sannoto’s eyes. Behind Hito followed a track of dirt that was too slow to even catch up with Hito’s speed, making him look like he was just a trick of someones imagination. With the speed he had he came up behind Sannoto and spinned his entire body to put extra force into his kick which was aimed for the middle of his back. Just the spinning motion of his body was fast enough to create a small tornado which had went along with his kick, giving such power that it would even create tears into the strongest of metals. The fragment of metal shot towards Sannoto, surging throughout the atmosphere. Nature almost alerted Sannoto of the danger; "dodge!" the wind whispered as the projectile wisped throughout the air. The Senju did no more than leap into the air to avoid the projectile allowing it to soar pass his body, and surely towards Hito whom had prematurely leaped behind Sannoto. Hito seen Sannoto slightly bend his legs so in reaction he had put his foot on the ground and kicked himself up, keeping the spinning momentum. As he was soaring upwards towards Sannoto, Hito’s legs were gaining even more energy and created such winds that it had just stopped the fragment in midair and dropped down, the winds were strong enough to even cut through rock with ease. Due to the speed of the rotation Hito had flown up to Sannoto most of the crowd couldn't even follow Hito’s movement, just seeing a mini tornado in his place. "That's some power!" Sannoto's face radiated pleasure at the sight of combat; it was exhilarating. Flipping his massive body midair, the Senju turned so that he would plummet towards Hito head first. With a smile spread across his visage, he extended his fist towards the approaching whirlwind; Chakra Enhanced Strength! A wisp of chakra circulated around his fist, empowering his strike hundredfold and the two collided in a blast of wispy energy. The earth trembled, and the air quaked under their massive strength. Hito’s kick and Sannoto’s punch created such friction between each other it had released a form of seeable energy that built up until it exploded, pushed the two away from each other. Hito had flipped backwards from the force but safely landed on his feet. “Damn, that was something else wasn’t it?” said Hito. Pulling out a Kunai he spoke once more, “Now how will we end this?”. With a smirk he started to charge towards Sannoto, closely watching every sign on his body. Hito was able to track down to the slightest twitch of the finger to every breath Sannoto took; Hito was ready to attack on a moments notice. Sannoto simply sighed at Hito's response. "Kid, you win.." he calmly responded. Slamming his large hand against his nape, he yawned a bit. "I'm a bit too old to continue this...You've improved greatly, but I'm afraid that you still have a bit of ways to go, but you're good.." Watching as Hito charged, Sannoto simply took a step to the side. Hito made a sudden stop in front of Sannoto, causing the dirt beneath him to rise up is a flash. As the dirt settled down it revealed the two staring at one another. The crowd around them was silent, waiting for what was coming next. Some were in amazement that Sannoto had just ended the fight this way. Hito, however, wasn’t; he knew that eventually one of them would have to call it to an end but Hito was too hotheaded to even consider the option. Holding out his hand he looked at Sannoto in the eyes. “Thank you Sensei, you’ve taught me out of the own kindness of your heart, and for that, I’ll never forget your hospitality.” said Hito in respect of the man who helped him realize that protecting his village isn’t as hopeless as he once thought. Sannoto smiled and took the hand of his disciple, but surely after he clenched hard. Picking up the student, Sannoto tossed him into the air across the terrain. "NOW GET OUTTA HERE!!!" The Senju shrieked. People's jaws dropped, others laughed, and some even called it a cheap shot. But for the Senju, this was simply his way of saying goodbye. "Leave with haste, leaves no sour taste," he muttered to himself as he watched his student shoot across the horizon.